The phrase "a firm step toward" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to indicate progress or advancement in a particular direction or toward a specific goal.
Example: "The new policy represents a firm step toward achieving our sustainability objectives."
Alternatives: "a solid move toward" or "a decisive action toward".
America just took a firm step toward a safer, more just society.
The militant Basque separatist group ETA declared a permanent cease-fire on Monday, in what it called a firm step toward ending a independence fight of decades.
The revolution of computational materials design is in the making, and on Oct. 1, the U.S. Department of Energy took a firm step toward achieving it in creating the Midwest Integrated Center for Computational Materials at Argonne National Laboratory.
Germany's Justice Ministry took a firm step on Wednesday toward safeguarding the right of parents to circumcise their male children.
BERLIN — Germany's Justice Ministry took a firm step on Wednesday toward safeguarding the right of parents to circumcise their male children, distributing its proposal to state officials and other experts to be debated before it is drafted into law.
A firm step from water to land.
The launching of this policy is the first firm step toward mobilizing more resources across Ministries for support to early childhood development, and a crucial measure in tackling child poverty and reducing inequalities.
Not even the CCI will noticeably affect temperature change within the next 50 years, Reilly says, but "the only way we will get to the year 2100 and look back and say we have made a substantial difference is to start out with firm steps toward a less GHG-intensive world than we otherwise are headed on".
Leading city officials, academics, and NGOs from the two countries convened to take firm steps toward more sustainable urban development.
Our results therefore support interventions that encourage healthcare professionals and healthcare authorities to take firm steps toward promoting prudent use and careful restriction of antimicrobial drug prescription and to monitor the effect of these interventions toward the restoration of the antiinfective activity essential to the success of modern medicine.
"Out of Exile" is a firm but small step toward that breakthrough.
